


A Friend In Me

by heihua



Category: Servamp (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 13:37:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10413378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heihua/pseuds/heihua
Summary: Mahiru's not quite sure why he's so upset over his boyfriend breaking up with him.Lucky for him, he's got plenty of friends to stop him from getting too sad and no Licht, you don't need to kick his ass.





	

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to my newest disaster also completed and uploaded at a time where all concept of quality writing have left me a.k.a. 1am, also known as the time for Regrets

Mahiru had known it was coming.

There had been so many arguments, so many fights, so many missed phone calls and missed dates that when his (now ex) boyfriend finally decided to call it quits, it had been a relief.

So why does he feel so sluggish?

He has a bucket load of chores to do—no thanks to his lazy roommate who never wakes up before three pm—and only until dinner time to do them. But Mahiru can’t even bring himself to sit up from his bed, let alone step out of his bedroom. It felt like it would take a herculean amount of effort to even consider moving.

Maybe his roommate was rubbing off on him.

 _‘Or maybe you’re just sad,’_ a part of him says.

 _‘But why?’_ Mahiru wonders. _‘I knew we were going to break up. It was inevitable. Thinking simply, we should have broken up ages ago.’_

It wasn’t like he lost another family member. So why did he feel just as sad? Why did he feel like his entire chest was caving in?

He covers his eyes with his arm, unable to even look at his own darkening room.

From outside his room, he hears the familiar shuffle of feet and the clank of pots as his roommate meanders about the kitchen, most likely making himself a quick snack after waking up.

Dinner, he realizes. He has to make dinner soon. He’s the responsible one in the apartment. He’s the one who’s in charge of the meals and the cleaning so he needs to get up. He needs to pull himself together and—

A knock on his door. “Mahiru? Are you there?”

He can’t answer.

His shirt sleeve is getting wet and his throat clogs with shame.

_Why is he crying?_

Another knock, this time a little quicker. “Mahiru?”

“Sorry Kuro,” he manages to get out and prays to whatever deity will listen that his voice comes out steady. “But can you make your own dinner tonight? I’m not feeling well.”

The other side of the door is silent and Mahiru is suddenly, terribly afraid of Kuro opening the door. He doesn’t want anyone to see him like this. It’s embarrassing, it’s shameful and it’s so stupid but _why can’t he stop crying?_

Mahiru can only be grateful that he manages to hold back his sobs long enough to burrow beneath his blankets so the noises he makes can be muffled and drowned out by Kuro returning to the kitchen.

 

 

 

Kuro’s not exactly the most terrible cook in the world but given the choice between his own cooking and Mahiru’s, he would choose Mahiru’s any day of the week.

But he has a feeling that wouldn’t be an option today.

So he pulls out the instant ramen, some pre-cut vegetables and a hard-boiled egg from the fridge.

It would be a gourmet instant ramen dinner, he tells himself as he turns the hot water dispenser on.

In the minutes between as he waits for the water to boil, Kuro lazily putters over to the living room, wondering what he should watch tonight.

On the couch, he spots Mahiru’s backpack.

It’s fallen on it’s side and half-open, several notebooks and Mahiru’s pencil case spilling out. That’s enough to make Kuro pause because Mahiru, born housewife he is, never leaves his backpack out in the open like this.

Kuro’s back at Mahiru’s bedroom door again. His hand hovers to knock. He can barely hear anything from behind the door but there are sounds—muted, indistinct but there.

_“I’m not feeling well.”_

Kuro doesn’t like it when Mahiru isn’t feeling well.

In the kitchen, the hot water dispenser beeps to tell him the water is ready.

Kuro’s hand falls away from Mahiru’s door and he returns to the kitchen.

He picks up the ramen, puts it away and gets the curry blocks instead.

Making curry takes more effort than Kuro wants to exert in the kitchen but Mahiru isn’t feeling well and there are some things even Kuro won’t allow himself to slack in.

“What a pain,” he mumbles to himself, without any real meaning.

 

 

 

Mahiru doesn’t remember falling asleep but he remembers waking up when he hears knocking on his door again.

“Mahiru?” It’s Kuro again. “Can I come in?”

His throat feels sore, his head hurts and he knows his eyes are beyond red. Mahiru doesn’t want Kuro to see him like this but he still doesn’t trust his voice to not waver if he were to say anything.

He can only hope his silence is enough of an answer.

A pause.

“I’m coming in,” Kuro says and Mahiru would have screamed if he didn’t think he would burst back into tears again.

He shouldn’t be like this, not when he had already promised himself that he would become a reliable person like his uncle. How could anyone rely on him if they ever saw him this weak and pathetic?

Mahiru hears the door open and still unable to find his voice, Mahiru—cocooned in his blankets—turns defiantly towards the wall.

He hears Kuro make his way to the bed, quiet like a cat and without the usual lazy sliding of his feet across the hardwood floors.

Mahiru has a feeling Kuro isn’t slouching like he usually is either.

“Mahiru.” Kuro’s voice is soft when he calls out to him. It’s soothing and Mahiru wonders why, when he already hears Kuro’s voice almost every day. “Are you okay?”

 _Please leave_ , Mahiru wants to say but he can’t speak, still too afraid.

He can only curl further inside his blankets and pathetically wish to be five again when hurts could still be soothed by his mother holding him in her arms.

_I just need to be alone for a bit. I’ll be fine Kuro, I promise._

It was a simple thing to say and it’d give him the space he needed and Kuro the peace of mind he needed to return to his nightly anime shows and video games.

But even the simple things had abandoned him and Mahiru can only respond to Kuro with an unwilling silence.

He hears Kuro sigh and Mahiru thinks, _he’s gotten fed up, he’s going to leave now._

But Kuro doesn’t leave.

Instead, Mahiru’s bed dips inwards as another weight settles down on it and Mahiru nearly leaps out of his blankets, sadness briefly trumped by outrage because _what the hell was Kuro doing in his bed_ but—

“It’s annoying when you’re always so energetic,” Kuro begins to say and Mahiru is both miffed and curious enough to keep quiet and listen. “But I can’t deal with you even more when you’re like this. Hurry up and let yourself get taken care of so you can get better.”

 _Oh,_ Mahiru thinks. _He’s trying to comfort me._

The thought alone is enough to make the tightness in Mahiru’s chest loosen just a little. He hears Kuro grumbling and it’s close enough to make Mahiru realize that if he turned around right now, he’d be able to touch Kuro’s back.

Thinking simply, he wanted the comfort Kuro was offering him now. Therefore, he should take it.

So Mahiru turns and lets himself press his forehead between Kuro’s shoulder blades. There’s still the blanket separating them because Mahiru is still a little embarrassed but he likes to think that Kuro understands his gratitude in the way his hand grips the back of Kuro’s shirt.

“I really can’t deal,” Kuro says with a huff but there’s not an ounce of annoyance in his words.

Mahiru smiles beneath the blankets.

 

 

 

The next morning, they have curry for breakfast.

Kuro grumbles out an excuse about them not putting his efforts to waste and Mahiru grins all throughout breakfast.

He even lets Kuro get out of helping with the dishes and watches the other slouch away to the living room with fondness.

Today, Mahiru doesn’t have class at his college, just his part-time job to get to in the afternoon so he busies himself with all the chores he didn’t do yesterday.

Compared to yesterday, he’s practically brimming with energy. He feels normal again and Kuro can see it too even as he complains that Mahiru’s being unreasonable as he’s forced to raise his feet off the floor so Mahiru can vacuum.

The background music and fighting noises that come from the TV as Kuro plays his game accompanies Mahiru as he finishes his vacuuming, puts out the laundry to dry and cleans the bathroom.

It’s just around noon when he finishes so he gets right to making lunch. He makes several of Kuro’s favorite, enough for dinner too for when he comes home after his shift and when Kuro sees this, he raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment.

Mahiru’s grateful to Kuro for staying when he could have left so when Kuro asks about what happened yesterday, Mahiru answers.

“My boyfriend broke up with me.” With a clear head and energized from lunch, Mahiru almost laughs at how easy it is to say it. “It was inevitable, really. I don’t really understand why I was so upset yesterday, though.”

Kuro shrugs. “Not like it matters now. Better fish in the sea, or so they say.”

Mahiru laughs and mentally makes a note to make more of Kuro’s favorites for dinner tomorrow.

 

 

 

The moment Mahiru’s out the door, Kuro pulls out his cellphone and begins furiously typing.

Mahiru may have felt better today but he had still been upset yesterday and that was reason enough for Kuro to get in touch with certain other parties.

 

 

 

 _“You sure you’re feeling alright?”_ Koyuki’s worried tone clearly comes through even on the phone and Mahiru can’t help but smile.

“Yea I’m fine. Really,” he insists when he hears Koyuki begin to take a breath to—no-doubt—ask him for the fifth time if he was really feeling alright. “Kuro helped cheer me up last night.”

 _“Kuro?”_ This time, it’s Ryusei who speaks and Mahiru can practically _hear_ the doubt in his words. _“That chronically lazy roommate of yours who does nothing but nap and play video games?”_

Mahiru muffles a laugh behind his sleeve, mindful of keeping his voice down in the store’s back room where he’s currently taking a break. “Yes, that Kuro. He’s a pretty good guy, once you get to know him.”

Ryusei mutters something too indistinct for the speaker phone on their side to pick up but it has Koyuki scolding him; Mahiru lets it slide if only because he has to get back to work soon.

 _“If you need to talk, we’re here,”_ Koyuki offers, still worried. Ryusei chimes in, seconds later, agreeing with Koyuki and Mahiru can’t stop smiling.

 

 

 

It’s nearing the end of Mahiru’s shift when Misono bursts into the convenience store, Lily cheerfully in tow.

“SHIROTA,” Misono all but shouts. “ARE YOU FEELING ALRIGHT?”

Mahiru almost falls to the ground, utterly caught off-guard.

“I’m fine Misono,” Mahiru carefully answers, almost afraid he was going to set Misono off if he said something wrong. “Why do you ask?”

“My brother contacted us earlier,” Lily happily explains, holding up his phone. “He says you weren’t feeling well and asked us if we could check up on you.”

“Kuro did?”

Lily nods and Misono looks ready to go into a long lecture about taking care of oneself when Mahiru’s phone suddenly starts ringing.

Surprised, Mahiru pulls it out of his pocket half-expecting it to be Kuro but his eyebrows furrow in heavy confusion when he sees the name on the screen.

Hesitantly, he accepts the call. “Hello?”

“ _Shirota,”_ is Licht’s clipped greeting. _“Where is the person who upset you?”_

Mahiru’s beginning to feel oddly out of the loop all of a sudden. “I’m sorry, what?”

_“My shitty assistant just told me his brother texted him and said you were upset. Now tell me the name of the person who I must smite with my angelic powers.”_

Mahiru splutters. “No one! There’s no one you need to smite Licht. I’m _fine_.” Here, he meets both Lily and Misono’s eyes. “Really.”

 _“I’m at the airport right now,”_ Licht continues like he hadn’t heard Mahiru. _“I’ll be in Japan within the next day.”_

“Don’t!” Mahiru yells into his phone, as if he spoke loud enough Licht might actually hear him.

_“I won’t get caught even if the police try to stop me. Because I’m an angel.”_

(In the background, Mahiru thinks he can hear Hyde cheering.)

He closes his eyes and begins counting to ten.

 

 

 

In the end, he has to beg his boss to let him leave his shift early so he could focus all his energy on trying to stop Licht.

His boss agrees, probably because he saw how harried Mahiru was looking and decided to take pity on his hardest worker.

(Misono’s death glare probably helped too.)

 

 

 

It takes a good hour on the phone plus Misono and Lily’s vouches that they would be looking out for Mahiru before Licht concedes and lets Franz drive him home (Mahiru hears Hyde whining in the background about wanting to go to Japan so he has a feeling he’ll be seeing Licht sooner than later). This, however, leads to Mahiru having to promise Misono that they would all spend time together this coming weekend at Tetsu’s family’s hot springs before he’s allowed to go home.

On the way home, his phone lights up with another call. This time, from Sakuya.

“Let me guess,” Mahiru begins once he picks up. “Kuro told you about the break-up?”

 _“Guess again~”_ Sakuya sings. “ _It was actually Koyuki. He was worried you were holding back on Ryusei and him so he asked me to call as I am your number one best friend. Now, how would you like me to sweep you off your feet, my beloved?”_

Mahiru rolls his eyes at the theatrics. “I’d rather stand on my own two feet, thank you very much. And please don’t call me beloved ever again.”

 _“I’ll stop calling you beloved if you call me Sakkun,”_ Sakuya bargains and Mahiru rolls his eyes a second time but he can’t stop smiling. He can’t stop the giddy feeling that swells and balloons in his chest like something almost tangible that’s always been in reach.

 

 

 

And when he returns to his apartment to be greeted by Kuro who complains about not finishing his game but still comes to the table to eat with Mahiru, Mahiru wonders how he could have ever been so upset when he already had everyone he needed by his side.

**Author's Note:**

> Low key....I just really wanted to write the scene with Licht.......


End file.
